Thursday, April 18, 2013

Shapes of things to come: rising speculative fiction talent

Granta's lists of 20 novelists under 40 – American, Spanish-language, Brazilian and most famously the British contingent – being renewed for 2013 this week – have become an institution in literary fiction. SF has no direct equivalent, but if it did, who might be on it?

Sadly, I have no idea. I've spent the last few years barely able to set aside time to read anything but the newest Kim Stanley Robinson novel, so I've ready exactly none of the authors on this list. If things change this year ... fingers crossed ... and I'm able to carve out some time to actually get through a few novels without cramping my internet reading, this is the list from which I'll likely be picking. (When google shuts down Reader for good, unless I grow more fond of feedly or some other alternative, I'm going to find myself going offline more often and back to proper reading.)

So who's the next KSR? The next China Miéville? Not that we need copycats, I mean the next author who's going to think big and write novels that we'll call sci-fi but are as literate as any of the posher genre?

About Me

Blogging primarily about Doctor Who while I watch (and re-watch) the entire series.

Sure, I could have chosen any number of other shows to bounce my interest in philosophy, history, progressive politics, secularism, and pop culture off; but, while others have burned brighter for periods of time, no other series has held my interest for so long. Nor is another likely to.